Friday, December 12, 2014

Oceanside holds off Edison

Before the rain fell, undefeated Oceanside marched down the field by controlling the trenches and attacked a deep Edison-Fresno secondary for the opening scoring drive.

From there and in between the rain drops, the Pirates put the Southern California state playoff game out of reach.

Led by Josh Bernard's three rushing touchdowns, quarterback Matt Romero's two touchdown throws and the Pirates' muscle at the line of scrimmage controlling both the Tigers' defensive front and offensive line, Oceanside advanced to the CIF State Division I championship with a 37-22 victory over the reigning Central Section DI champs.

Bernard, who's being recruited by Weber State of the Football Championship Subdivision, scored on runs of 1, 3 and 1-yard. Bernard scored the first touchdown on an inside run.

Then, Oceanside blocked a punt inside the Edison 5-yard line that made it 9-0, as the ball bounced out of the end zone for the safety. On the next drive, Romero connected with John Grumbling on a 19-yard scoring pass, extending the Pirate lead to 16-0.

The Tigers (12-2) were held to just two yards of total offense in the first quarter. But, Edison tried to fix its early jitters with big plays from Tyler Horton and Kamron Lewis in the second.

Horton intercepted the first of three Pirate passes and returned the ball to the OHS 39. Tiger quarterback Hunter Swearingen went to the air and found a dashing Lewis for the 39-yard touchdown, severing the OHS lead to 16-6.

However, the Pirates struck again with Bernard scoring his next two runs to make it 30-6 at halftime.

The Tigers tried to mount a late comeback behind Khai Williams' two fourth quarter touchdown runs. Horton added another interception and a 62-yard punt return. Lewis added an interception late in the contest that helped set up the Tigers' last drive.

The Tigers' final drive, though, ended on a Ju'Wan Murphy 9-yard reception on fourth-and-10 with 3:05 remaining.

Oceanside's victory sets up next Friday's CIF State DI title game bout against Folsom (15-0) at Carson. The Bulldogs out of the Sac Joaquin Section trounced Grant-Sacramento 52-21 at Sacramento State's Hornet Stadium on Dec. 12.